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Healthy Woman focusing on hospitalist program

What is a hospitalist?While the program has been in place for more than a year at Scenic Mountain Medical Center, many people in the community still aren’t quite sure what it is or that it even exists.Healthy Woman, a Scenic Mountain Medical Center Resource, is looking to answer those questions and inform those who don’t know about the program with its monthly event, “What is a Hospitalist?” on Thursday in the Senior Circle Room on the fourth floor at SMMC.“This is a program that we put into place early 2012 as a way of providing more one-on-one care for our patients,” SMMC CEO Larry Rodgers said. “However, we realize that many members of the community still don’t know about the hospitalists which hinders them from fully understanding the benefits associated with the hospitalists.”While hospitalists are not the patient’s normal primary care physician, they are still equipped to provide the same level of care. All information collected during a patient’s stay at the hospital is transferred to the primary care physician so that they can be informed on the status of their patient.“Apogee physicians believe that what is best for the patient is best for the practice,” Alicia McFarland, Apogee patient information coordinator, said. “Communication is very important between a hospitalist and the primary care physician.”“Hospitalists are available 24/7 and are only looking at those patients in the hospital, which means they have more time because their case load isn’t as full as PCPs are,” Rodgers said.“While there are many questions and concerns for those who are just hearing about Hospitalists, the reality is there are several benefits that come along with their availability. We are hoping the community will take advantage of this month’s Healthy Woman presentation and come find out more about this group.”For those wanting to find out more about hospitalists, there will be a Lunch-n-Learn at 11:30 a.m. Thursday and the Healthy Woman presentation at 5:30 p.m. Both events are free to the public. For more information or to reserve a seat at either presentation, call Amanda Duforat at 432-268-4842 or Anita Cline at 432-268-4721.